Pacifica | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1998 | |||
Recorded |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 49:08 | |||
Label | Tzadik (US) | |||
Producer | Fred Frith | |||
Fred Frith chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic |
Pacifica is a studio album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It was composed by Frith in 1994 as "a meditation for 21 musicians with texts by Pablo Neruda", [2] and was performed, under the direction of Frith, by the Bolognese Eva Kant ensemble in 1995 in Modena, Italy. Texts, taken from the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's works, were recorded by Sergio Meza in September 1997 in Santiago, Chile and were added to the music in 1998. The album was released on Tzadik Records' Composer Series in 1998.
Frith does not perform on this album.
Pacifica was composed by Frith at Big Sur, California in a cabin overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is "a slow meditation on life and death" [3] and reflects a series of events that occurred in Frith's life at the time, namely the death of two close friends and the birth of his daughter. [4]
Pacifica was composed for an ensemble that included prepared guitars, wind instruments, percussion, a vocalist and a performer on records, CDs and tapes. The 19 member Eva Kant ensemble (named after a 1960s comic strip heroine, Eva Kant) performed the piece, with fragments of recited text from the Death Song of the Cupeño tribe of California and the tribal names of all the original inhabitants of California. The recording was supplemented later with texts from Pablo Neruda's Soneto IX and Cien sonetos de amor , read by Sergio Meza.
All tracks composed by Fred Frith.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Part 1" | 46:22 |
2. | "Part 2" | 2:46 |
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improvisor.
William Winant is an American percussionist.
Timothy "Tim" George Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968. After the demise of Henry Cow, he participated in numerous bands and projects, eventually concentrating on composing contemporary music and performing as an improviser.
Massacre was founded in 1980 in New York City by guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Fred Maher as an improvising and experimental rock band. They performed live for just over a year and recorded a studio album, Killing Time (1981). Frith and Laswell reformed Massacre in 1998 with drummer Charles Hayward, and released four more albums, Funny Valentine (1998), Meltdown (2001), Lonely Heart (2007) and Love Me Tender (2013). The last three albums were recorded live, the first in London, and the others at European festivals between 1999 and 2008.
Peter Lieberson was an American classical composer.
Middle of the Moment is a soundtrack by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, of the 1995 documentary film, Middle of the Moment by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel.
Prints: Snapshots, Postcards, Messages and Miniatures, 1987–2001 is a 2002 album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, and his first album of songs since Cheap at Half the Price (1983). It comprises four tracks taken from previously released compilations that Frith had contributed to between 1987 and 1997, seven tracks that were "created spontaneously" in the studio in 1997 and 2001, and one live guitar improvisation in 2001. The album was released on CD in 2002 on Fred Records and was the second release in Frith's archival release program on the record label.
Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire is a double live album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It comprises a series of graphic scores Frith composed in 1992 "for any number of players". It was performed live by Frith, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins and the International Occasional Ensemble at five concerts in Canada, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Frith also conducted and directed the performances.
Impur is an album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It was composed in 1996 by Frith "for 100 musicians, large building and mobile audience" and was performed on 30 May 1996 by students and teachers from L’Ecole Nationale de Musique, Villeurbanne, France. Frith directed the performance but did perform himself.
The Happy End Problem is a studio album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, and is the fifth of a series of Music for Dance albums he made. It comprises two suites composed in 2003 by Frith "for flute, bassoon, gu zheng, percussion, violin and electronics" and was recorded in 2003 and 2004.
Quilapayún Chante Neruda is a compilation music album released by Quilapayún in exile in France in 1983 in commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the death of the Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda – who died in September 1973.
Back to Life is a studio album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It comprises five classical chamber music pieces composed by Frith between 1993 and 2005, and was performed between 1998 and 2007 by Belgian pianist Daan Vandewalle, United States percussionist William Winant, and the Callithumpian Consort ensemble of the New England Conservatory of Music, conducted by Stephen Drury. The album was released on Tzadik Records' Composer Series in 2008.
Godard/Spillane is a compilation album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn consisting of music created through Zorn's file-card compositional process. He first released the composition "Godard", a tribute to French film-maker Jean-Luc Godard whose jump-cut technique inspired Zorn's compositional approach, on the French tribute album "Godard" on French compilation Jean-Luc Godard|Godard ça vous chante? in 1986 on the French Nato label, "Spillane" was first released on Zorn's Nonesuch Records album Spillane in 1987 and "Blues Noël" was first released on the compilation album Joyeux Noël - Merry Christmas Everybody! on Nato in 1987.
Impur II is an album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It was composed in 1996 by Frith and performed in December 1997 in RamDam in Lyon, France by students and teachers from L’Ecole Nationale de Musique, Villeurbanne. Frith conducted and played with the ensemble.
Regina Irman is a Swiss musician, music educator and composer.
Eye to Ear III is a studio album by English guitarist, composer, and improvisor Fred Frith. The album is a collection of film music composed and performed by Frith, and is the third of three Eye to Ear albums dedicated to his work for short films. It was recorded in Germany and the United States in 2003 and 2004.
Traffic Continues is an album by composer and guitarist Fred Frith featuring the Ensemble Modern, Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori, which was released on the Winter & Winter label. The album features a suite dedicated to cellist Tom Cora built around samples of his playing from Etymology.
Hallelujah, Anyway – Remembering Tom Cora is a 1999 double-CD compilation album by various artists dedicated to United States cellist and composer Tom Cora, who had died on April 9, 1998. It includes material composed in Cora's memory, songs he had written for other musicians and groups, and a selection of music he had performed and participated in. It was released in May 1999 by John Zorn's Tzadik Records.